Do Over
by Raberba girl
Summary: Experimental time travel vignettes.
1. Vikings looking for Hiccup

Do Over

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Experimental time travel vignettes.

A/N: I've been playing with several time travel ideas for a few years now, but this is the first one I've attempted to write.

 **This is NOT planned as a full story; I'm just doing random vignettes with time travel scenarios to help me cope with writer's block.**

 **1 - Vikings looking for Hiccup**

Astrid awakened early from habit, but the window frame near her bed was devoid of the cheerful Nadder face she'd grown accustomed to seeing first thing in the morning. Figuring that she'd look for Stormfly outside, Astrid got out of bed, meaning to get dressed, but was distracted by how strange she felt.

She wondered for a second if she was ill, but immediately decided that wasn't the problem. It was more like her muscles didn't fit together or move right, everything was at the wrong eye level, and something about her chest was off- When she checked, she was astonished to find that her boobs had apparently shrunk in the night, though they still seemed healthy.

Whatever. Too bad for Hiccup, but the increased mobility was kind of nice, and she had things to do; she'd worry about the inexplicable boob shrinkage later. She dressed and plaited her hair as quickly as she could, wondering irritably why her mother had decided to re-arrange her room and mess with all her stuff in the middle of the night. (Come to think of it, how had Astrid slept through having her bed moved and her best weapons taken?) The rest of the house, however, was empty (and also re-arranged, as if her parents had had a nostalgia fit and changed everything to look like it had five years ago). Astrid planned to track down her parents later to ask them what they heck they were up to; for now, she simply grabbed a few bites to eat and headed out for her first flight of the day.

Astrid halted after she taken a few steps outside. It wasn't just her bedroom and house...the _entire village_ looked like it had five years ago. It made Astrid's stomach lurch unpleasantly to see none of Hiccup's inventions, as if someone had wanted to erase his accomplishments from existence. Everything seemed so drab and small...and spiky and deadly and hostile...and _there were no dragons_.

"What is going _on_ here?!" Astrid put her hands to her mouth. "Stormfly!" she called. "Stormfly! Come here, girl!"

There was no reply except for a couple of passing villagers wondering what she was talking about and wishing her good morning.

 _'I have to find Hiccup.'_

However, the first person she met from that household was Stoick, hurrying down the hillside steps toward her. "Astrid!"

"Chief!" Astrid, who had started forward to meet him, paused again in confusion when she saw that something was off with Stoick, too.

Stoick had stopped as well and was staring at her in amazement.

"What's wrong, chief?" His beard! That's what it was; it was all bright red, with no gray in it at all.

"Lass...? You're so - small."

She frowned in confusion. "Is Hiccup up at the house? I need to talk to him."

Stoick shook his head helplessly. "No sign of him or Toothless, either, but something strange is going on here."

"Where are all the dragons?"

"Where are Hiccup's _gizmos_?" Stoick swept his arm around to indicate the village. "The forge is half the size it should be! The racing arena's gone without a trace, I can't find Skullcrusher anywhere... Astrid, _there's no skylight in Hiccup's room_."

She stared at him.

"No dragon doodles pinned to his wall, no spare tails piled in the corners... I think something terrible has happened."

"We have to find Hiccup."

Searching the village turned up more questions than answers. Stoick was the only person who seemed sane; everyone else acted like he and Astrid were crazy for implying that dragons were anything less than marauding monsters, and the thinly-veiled scorn in their expressions when Hiccup's name was mentioned was painful for both Astrid and Stoick to see. Even Gobber, grumpily ordering them to let him sleep another hour, didn't seem to know what they were talking about. That could just have been Gobber not being properly awake yet, but lying on a table nearby was his old prosthetic, rather than any of the newer ones Hiccup had made for him over the years.

At a loss, the chief and his future daughter-in-law slowly crossed the village square again. "It's like... It's almost as if we went _back_ ," Astrid said slowly. "Back to when the war was still-" She broke off when she heard a distant, distressed cry.

"Meatluuuuug!"

Stoick and Astrid simultaneously broke into a run. They found Fishlegs standing at the edge of a cliff, staring forlornly out over the ocean. "I can't find Meatlug!"

Astrid was staring at him. "Fishlegs... You're so _small_."

"I knew it!" Stoick exclaimed.

Fishlegs shot Astrid a surprised, pleased look. "Really?" he said, then smiled down at himself and slid his palms down his sides in a 'trim' gesture. "Maybe the new diet's really-"

"I don't mean small as in you lost weight, I mean you look _younger_ , Fishlegs. You look like you're fourteen years old."

Fishlegs peered at her, paying actual attention to her for the first time, then stepped back in surprise. "So do you!"

"Let's find Snotlout and the Thorston twins," Stoick said.

All three were still asleep, but they all looked the same as they had five years before, and when awakened, they were all surprised at everyone's appearances and concerned about their missing dragons.

"We have to find Hiccup," Stoick said. "He may have gone after Toothless alone."

The others all looked at each other, wide-eyed. "You mean...to Dragon Island...?"

"He couldn't have!"

"That idiot _would_ , though."

"Are any of the boats missing?" It turned out that none were. "He can't have gone on foot to an island."

"Unless he went looking for Toothless at the cove instead."

Stoick clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "The five of you go see if he's at the cove, and search the woods nearby if you can't find him there. I'll take some people out to search on the other side of Berk, and get a ship ready in case we need to sail out."

"You got it, chief."

The five young adults set out, Astrid leading the way and thinking with a little smile that it was just like everyone to look to Hiccup for explanations during a crisis. He was probably just as clueless about what had happened as they were. It was also just like Hiccup to go straight after his dragon than make any non-Toothless people a priority... Astrid sighed and wondered if Hiccup had at least come to check on her before he'd left.

The cove was empty, but while they were heading back to the village, Tuffnut was the first one to catch sight of a small human figure moving through the trees up ahead. "Yo, Hiccup!"

The boy had been wandering slowly, engrossed in the notebook he was holding, but at Tuffnut's shout, his head jerked up like an animal sensing danger.

"Hiccup~!"

" _There_ you are!" They all gladly broke into a run.

To their astonishment, Hiccup turned and fled.

"Hiccup!"

They pounded after him. Astrid was fastest, and steadily started catching him up, wondering at him even as she pursued. He was so _little_! She'd forgotten how tiny Hiccup had been before his growth spurt, how...fragile-looking he seemed. Well, he was _still_ a delicate flower that she sometimes forgot to handle with enough care, but the Hiccup she knew was a paragon of manliness next to this wisp of a child. _'Doesn't matter. He's still my Hiccup, no matter what he looks like.'_

He really was running for his life, for some reason; Astrid only just barely managed to snag his sleeve. He whipped around with the sudden change in momentum and would have fallen hard if she hadn't caught him in both arms. He made a yelping sound and _struggled_ , which she wasn't expecting. She was obliged to grip his arms like she'd grip a captive of war and push him toward the others, who were panting up to meet them.

Astrid was startled to find Hiccup trembling in her hands, but his voice was fairly steady when he greeted them. "He-ey, what's up, guys. Nice day for hunting, eh?"

"Hiccup!"

"Hiccup, what is _happening_?"

"I can't find Meatluuuuug!"

Hiccup wasn't breathing quite right, even considering that he'd just been running flat-out. "Take deeper breaths," Astrid advised him. "You'll get your wind back faster."

Hiccup rolled his eyes back toward her in a jittery, panicked sort of way and didn't respond. She released him, wondering if she was freaking him out by the forceful handling, but it didn't seem to help. He took a halfhearted step toward Snotlout and Ruffnut, between which was the biggest opening in the circle of people that enclosed him, but didn't try to run again. His shoulders were hunched in a way that surprised Astrid, because she hadn't seen that sort of body language from him in so long, and his hands fiddled restlessly.

"All the dragons are gone, Hiccup!"

"We're all, like, fifteen again."

"Heh, I forgot how pathetic and nerdy you used to be, Hicc."

"He's still pathetic and nerdy."

"What do we do?" Snotlout demanded.

Hiccup eyed him. "You're asking me?"

"Guys," Astrid said, flapping her hands at them, "back up, give him some space."

Everyone shifted a bit. Hiccup angled himself so that he was more or less facing Astrid, though he was still eyeing her sideways in a tense, cautious way.

"Come on, Hiccup, say something."

"What if Meatlug never comes back?! This isn't like Snoggletog, we'd have heard them leaving!"

Hiccup drew in a careful breath, then exhaled shakily. "Honestly, guys, I don't know how to play along with this one. Can we just skip straight to business and get this over with?"

"Get what over with?"

"You know. Whatever you're...planning to do. To me."

There was a long silence, as it slowly started dawning on people that Hiccup was expecting to get beaten up.

"Of course," Hiccup burst out after no one had said anything for a few moments, his voice even higher than usual, "I'd be totally fine with, you know, just not having any plans, no 'combat training' or toughening up the weakling. We can just sing a rousing chorus of 'Hooligan Pride' and head home. Right? I think that sounds like a good plan. Much better than...whatever you were planning before."

"Guys," Fishlegs finally said, "I don't think this is our Hiccup."


	2. Toothless looking for Hiccup

_**Do Over**_ **, a** **DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl**

 **2 - Toothless looking for Hiccup**

 **(rough draft)**

A/N: I was unhappy because this vignette wasn't working well when I started it last night, but thankfully it was easier to write today.

Spellchecking dragon perspective is a pain. X''D

o.o.o

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG

 _SHE_ Her that monster I hate-!

Flockmates?!

WRONG.

Everything is wrong. This bad scary chained-down nest, _Her_ voice inside me can't get it out can't get it out can't get it out

WHY IS HALF OF ME'S SCENT NOT ON ME?! All of me my whole body nothing nothing He's _gone_ , He's gone, nothing of Him to mark me as His, He's not _here_ for me to smell and find Him, WHERE IS MY OTHER HALF?!

My flockmates(?) hear me screaming, they are surprised and very tired, they tell me to be quiet. _"Two halves?"_ some of them wonder, _"Missing half? Nightwing, you have no half."_

NO NO NO NO NO

I can't.

I ran and I meant to _plunge_ into the sky, but I CAN'T, I can't fly alone and Half Of Me is not _here_ , I will die if I jump off this cliff alone!

?! WHERE ARE MY HUMAN WINGS?! My hide is all bare, no metal-and-dead-skin things that make me fly; my _tail_! My human fin is _GONE_! This fin?! This flesh fin that opens closes opens, two fins that smell the same and look the same, where is-?! What is...?!

I'm whimpering like a baby, I'm so very much scared and confused. Then I smell my rock-eater troopmate approaching, I whirl and hide against her as if she's my mama. _"Terrified very so much confused lonely, He's gone...!"_

 _"Nightwing,"_ she croons, and licks me to comfort me.

Her scents are all wrong. There are no troopmate scents on her, only _"friend"_ and _"sad/worried."_ She doesn't smell like her human at all. I forget to be scared; I stare at her. _"That is not my name."_

She gurgles because I said such a strange thing, but it's _true_! My name is Consort Troopmate, I have not been 'Nightwing' to my flockmates for a very long time!

 _"No half, see?"_ she says, nosing along my hide to show me that there is no two-halves scent there.

 _"No! No! Half Of Me! I love Him! Where did He go?!"_ I must go home. This horrible place is _not my home_ ; I must go to our very good happy plentiful dragon-and-human nest that me and Half Of Me and Human Queen all rule together!

I am frightened, I cannot jump off this cliff, I will fall and die, but...Half Of Me is not here. He is out _there_ somewhere, I must find Him.

...My human wings are gone, but I have my dragon wings now.

...Open close, open close, open close. They are two, they will guide me. I will not fall. I am frightened to fly alone without Half Of Me on my back, but...maybe I will not fall.

And if I fall I will fall in the ocean, I WILL _SWIM_ TO FIND HALF OF ME.

I back up, and then I run and jump off the cliff, and I flap my wings even though I will fall.

I'M FLYING?!

I cry because I'm scared/ANGRY that I am flying without Half Of Me, but my tail moves, my fins remember to be two instead of one fin and Half's fin, _I will fly to Half Of Me_. Faster than swimming.

o.o.o.o.o

HOME.

My home good nest that I love, Half Of Me Half Of Me Half Of-

They're _shooting_ at me?!

Humans roaring and shooting human weapons-

There are no dragons on this island. _There are no dragons in this nest_ , it is a human-only nest, what HAPPENED?!

I'm scared scared _very much scared_. Home is not home, Half Of Me is not here...?!

o.o.o.o.o

I'm hiding in the woods. I will wait until it is night and day-creatures cannot see me, then I will creep creep so stealthy into that not-nest and find my human and _take Him_. We can live in any nest or no nest, as long as the two of us are together.

"Tooooothless!"

?! My human sound-name?!

"Toothless, honey, where are you?"

...That is Wanted's voice. Half Of Me is with His female? Half Of Me is not with His female?

She is alone. She is wary when she sees me, but I whimper and cringe as I come to her because I'm so confused and scared and sad, and she relaxes. She caresses me and squeezes me to say _"Greeting, I love you"_ in human words. "Hey there, sweetheart. I'm so sorry, we couldn't stop them from shooting. I'm really glad you're all right."

 _"Half Of Me? Half Of Me?"_

"You wanna see Hiccup, huh."

HICCUP. THAT IS HALF OF ME'S HUMAN NAME. _"Yes yes yes yes!"_

"Heheh. Ssshh, calm down, Toothless. I'll take you tonight, okay? _Later_ , Toothless. Later."

That sound 'later' means 'not right now; wait.' I groan and pace and am angry, but she's so sad and sad-for-me that I know she would take me sooner if she could. I push my nose into her and lie down with her to comfort myself with her scent, since I don't have Half Of Me's, and I try to sleep. _Waiting_ , this waiting for Half Of Me, I very much do not like it.

o.o.o.o.o

It is DARK; TIME FOR HALF OF ME.

Wanted drags on me to say _"Slower! Slower!"_ but I _do not want_ to go slower, we are going to Half Of Me!

But I know to be quiet and stealthy when we reach the human nest, and Wanted is quiet and stealthy, too. We creep into the aerie - no me-scents here?! No dragon scents here at all?! - and THERE IS HALF OF ME.

I rush/pounce! Half Of Me, Half Of Me?!

"Hiccup, it's all right. It's all _right_ , son!"

"It's a DRAGON! It's a-! What even _is_ it?!"

He's _frightened_ of me?! WHY IS MY OTHER HALF FRIGHTENED OF ME?! Hiding behind Dad, his body saying _"TERRIFIED"_ \- because of _me_?!

"Hiccup, please, it's all right. We told you - this is _your_ dragon." Wanted is between us, crooning, one paw stretched toward me with soft-claws spread to say _"Stay back,"_ other paw stretched toward Half Of Me with the underpad up to beckon. He is too frightened for me to go to Him, so she is trying to coax Him to me. "He really missed you, Hiccup."

I lie down and bare my throat and belly; I'm whimpering, it _hurts_.

"A...Night Fury...? This is a _Night Fury_...?!"

He's still very much scared, but His eyes are fixed on me and He's creeping close. He's frightened, but He's hunting me a little like He hunts interesting things. He stretches out a paw to touch mine.

It is very hard to lie still and keep saying _"I am harmless harmless harmless"_ when I want to jump up and grab Him and CLAIM HIM, but I do until He is close enough. His tiny little paws touching me so lightly I can't feel it, He flinches at my smallest movements but I am an Interesting Thing He can't resist now. I wait until He's distracted touching my head plates, then I grab Him and pin Him so I can _lick_ and rub good marks onto Him. HE NEEDS MARKS, He doesn't have _any_ good ones! _"HALF OF ME HALF OF ME HALF OF ME CONSORT FLOCK-QUEEN_ _PROTECTED_ _BY THIS NIGHTWING."_

He shrieks and struggles at first, but finally He lies still and lets me mark Him. "Daaaaaad, at least stop him from drowning me with spit!"

"I don't know, Hiccup...he's got about five years' worth of spit to catch up on."

"Dad! Astrid?!"

"Better you than me. _My_ dragon's tidier."

"Come on!"

Finally I finish. Half Of Me is Half Of Me again; any foreigner will _know_ who He is and where He belongs now.

Wanted is gone. Dad has food, and he gives some to us. Half Of Me is not very scared anymore but He keeps trying to get away from me, but _I'm_ still scared so I very much will not let Him. Dad brings Half Of Me's dead wood leaves and charcoal to Him, and He plays with them while I rest with His scent. This is good. This is how things are supposed to be; I feel better now.

"All right, well, I think I'm going to call it a night. Maybe things will make more sense tomorrow."

He is alarmed. "Dad? Dad, don't leave me alone!"

I raise my head, alert but confused. Half Of Me and Dad look at each other for a while; Half Of Me is tense and pleading. What is wrong?

"Well...I suppose I could bring some blankets in here." Dad goes away and then comes back to lie down with us by the fire. We rest together for a long time, but none of us sleep.


	3. Skittish soldiers

_**Do Over**_ **, a** **DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl**

 **3 - Skittish soldiers**

 **(rough draft)**

Hiccup crashed into consciousness to the sound of dragon screams. He nearly fell out of bed, and was only just in time to catch a glimpse of a large black-scaled body thundering out through the skylight. "Toothless?!"

Hiccup scrambled to the skylight as best he could on one-and-a-half legs and squinted into the sunrise, searching for his dragon. The Night Fury was flailing like a beached whale from rooftop to rooftop as if he'd forgotten he couldn't fly, shrieking the whole way until he finally disappeared with a rustling, cracking thump into the woods just outside Berk. "...Toothless?" Hiccup was exceedingly worried about his partner, but all the dragons who'd been attracted by the commotion just looked really confused, so at least it wasn't a flock-wide problem.

Then came the house-quaking arrival of Stoick, who burst into the loft in a state of panic. "Hiccup?! Are you all right?!"

"Yeah, but Toothle-"

"HICCUP?!"

"Dad?"

"What-?! You-! I heard a _dragon_ up here!"

Hiccup quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah."

"What happened to the _roof_?!" Stoick was already thumping across the loft. "There's a great hole in- LOKI'S _BALLS_!" He reeled back from the skylight with his face chalk-white.

Hiccup heaved himself back into a position where he could look outside again, but he didn't see whatever had so alarmed his father. "What-?"

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Stoick raced back across the room and disappeared down the stairs. Hiccup was rather amazed that all his father's stomping around hadn't caused the loft to collapse, but then again, dwellings on Berk were built to withstand a great deal of abuse.

Before the young Viking could even finish putting on his prosthetic so he could go after Toothless and his father (in that order), another set of shrieks and bellows started up outside, this time human. Followed by more dragon ones, and then what sounded like the entire village/nest all together. "What _now_?" Hiccup groaned. "It's too early for this..."

By the time he made it outside, there was a large crowd gathered. Four or five Vikings were struggling to restrain the bellowing Stoick as Gobber tried to reason with him; another was hanging onto an indignantly shouting Snotlout, and two more were restraining Astrid as she furiously screamed and fought. Dragons were milling and flapping their wings in distress, one or two of them backing away from the raging humans and hissing.

"For the love of Thor, what is going _on_ here?" Though his reedy voice had no effect on Stoick, Astrid, or Snotlout, everyone else of both species immediately went quiet and respectfully made way for the dragon queen of Berk.

"Ah, see now, here's Hiccup," Gobber said in relief, gesturing. "He'll sort everything out, Stoick."

"HICCUP, GET INSIDE!" the chief bellowed.

Hiccup stared. It had been a while since he'd heard that one.

"What is the _meaning_ of this?" Astrid demanded, looking like a small, beautiful thunderstorm writhing in the grip of her captors. Stormfly edged close and crooned in a soothing way, but Astrid startled everyone, especially her dragon partner, when she lunged at Stormfly as far as she could and screeched in her face. The Nadder leaped back as if she'd been whipped, then whimpered and ducked behind Hiccup to hide.

"Astrid, don't take it out on Stormfly," Hiccup said reproachfully, patting the Nadder's hide to comfort her. "What's the problem here?"

"Hiccup," someone in the crowd said, "they've gone mad. They keep trying to attack the dragons."

It took a while for things to calm down and explanations to be made, but eventually it became clear that the three Vikings - as well as Fishlegs, who had been hiding in terror, and the Thorston twins, who had been watching the show with interest when they realized the dragons weren't raiding - had apparently forgotten everything that happened in the past five years.

Fishlegs came to terms with everything fairly quickly, looking tremulously awed when Hiccup re-acquainted him with Meatlug. The Thorstons didn't seem to care one way or another about their apparent memory loss ("Happens all the time, you get used to it"), and it took less than ten minutes with their dragon to get back to their usual idiotic shenanigans as if nothing had happened.

Stoick and especially Astrid took the longest to convince. Hiccup could see in Snotlout's face that the young man was relieved at the apparent lack of danger and willing to listen, but was too concerned with impressing Stoick and Astrid to act accordingly.

"Okay, you know what," Hiccup finally said, "you two just hang out with Gobber for a bit. Snotlout, come with me."

"What?! I'm not going anywhere with you, Gimpy!" Snotlout protested in a mild panic when Hiccup grabbed his arm and tugged. "Where are you taking me?! No! What happened to your leg?! A dragon bit it off, didn't it!"

"I'm not taking you anywhere," Hiccup said in exasperation, "since you have to, you know, walk, and I'll tell you later."

"Help!"

"I'll tell you what happened to my leg when you come with me. _Move_ , Snotlout."

The shorter man reluctantly took a few steps, to Hiccup's relief, since he wasn't strong enough to budge Snotlout an inch against his will. "Who put you in charge, anyway?" Snotlout scoffed, moving more confidently as if insulting Hiccup gave him more self-assurance. "Why are you so _tall_? What's that button do?" Hiccup calmly blocked Snotlout's finger before it could reach the dorsal fin trigger on his flight suit. "You get around pretty well for a cripple, hah!"

 _'He's even more obsessed with my leg than he was before he got amnesia.'_ Once Hiccup had gotten Snotlout out of sight of Stoick and Astrid, and into Hookfang's general vicinity, he came to a halt. Stormfly was forlornly trailing after him, and he caught some distracted glimpses of Toothless stalking him in the distance. "Okay. Look." Hiccup gestured at the Monstrous Nightmare, who was very pointedly watching butterflies with his back to his human. "That is your partner. His name is Hookfang."

Snotlout stared, gaping. "Whoooaah..." Then he grinned in delight. "I _knew_ I'd have a Monstrous Nightmare! A Jorgenson deserves only the best," he added loftily.

"Hookfang," Hiccup called, "come here!"

The Nightmare turned gracefully. Snotlout drew himself up and planted his fists on his hips, smirking, but it was Hiccup the dragon came to. Hookfang slithered up and twined himself around his tiny queen, purring.

"Hey, dragon!" Snotlout yelled, raising his hand but then deciding he didn't dare slap his palm against the creature's hide as he'd originally intended. "Heel! Obey your master!"

"Yeah, so..." Hiccup scratched at the base of Hookfang's horns and tried not to fall over when the huge head leaned against him. "The thing is, Hookfang is kind of ticked at you for driving him off earlier, so...basically, he's punishing you."

"He can't do that! _I'm_ the dragon master."

Hiccup suppressed a smile. "It's like when a cat is mad at you, he gets all chummy with someone else and rubs it in your face how Very Not Interested he is in you. It's gonna take some humility, Snotlout."

The other man made a contemptuous sound.

"You have to win him back like...like you'd try to woo-" Well, considering Snotlout's track record with courtship, maybe that wasn't the best advice. "Like you'd try to curry favor with the chief."

"A _dragon_ can't be a _chief_!"

"It's an _analogy_ , Snotlout. Butter him up. Tell him how awesome he is and that you're useless without him." Hookfang eyed his misbehaving human over Hiccup's shoulder in an expectant way.

When the pair were settled enough for Hiccup to feel comfortable leaving them alone ("Hey! No, stop that, bad dragon! HICCUP, HELP!" "You're doing great, Snotlout~"), Hiccup returned to where he'd left the others. On the way, he peered into shadows until he located a set of glaring green eyes. He whistled beckoningly, but the only result was that the eyes narrowed even more and then vanished as Toothless whisked around a corner. Hiccup sighed and continued on with his hand resting on Stormfly's side, wondering why his dragon was acting as weird as Snotlout and the others.

In the forge, as Gobber worked and Grump napped as usual, Stoick and Astrid huddled back to back. Astrid had her axe gripped at the ready and was glaring fiercely at the dragons wandering through Berk as if she intended to do murder at the slightest provocation. Stoick, though also armed and watching the dragons closely, seemed more wary than anything else. When he saw Hiccup approaching, he asked gruffly, "How is it that there's so much _food_? Even without the beasts stealing it, you've still got 'em swallowing _mouthfuls_ of the stuff, but it's endless!" He pointed with his mace toward a feeding station, where a few fish had just dropped into the waiting jaws of a young Gronckle.

Hiccup smiled. "In addition to the fact that we're no longer feeding a greedy mountain - the dragons help with fishing, Dad. The Nightmares are particularly good at it."

Stoick's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Once he'd gotten over his shock, he looked a little thoughtful and excited, despite the fact that he never lost the firm grip on his weapon.

Astrid had turned her poisonous expression on Hiccup. "You should be executed for treason," she hissed.

Hiccup swallowed hard. The hatred in her eyes hurt...a _lot_...and it hit home how very far his fiancée had come in five years. He'd forgotten what it had been like _Before_ , when the person he admired so much had felt nothing for him but disappointment, anger, and rejection.

"Now, lass," Gobber spoke up, "Hiccup got that badge of honor good and proper, with all our warriors to witness. He lost his leg saving the village, including you, and he's the one who slayed the biggest dragon that ever crawled out of Hel's realm."

"You're crazy!" Astrid shouted. "Everyone is _crazy_! This is HICCUP we're talking about! The one who can't set foot outside his own house during a raid without causing as much damage as the dragons do! _Him_!" She thrust her axe in accusation.

"My son," Stoick said. He approached Hiccup as warily as if the young man was a dragon himself, and shot unhappy looks at the actual dragon beside him.

Hiccup patted Stormfly's jaw and crooned briefly to her, then reached out to grasp his father's wrist. There was a moment of hesitation. Then Stoick rigidly allowed Hiccup to drag his hand close to the Nadder, until the chief's huge palm rested against Stormfly's hide. The dragon closed her eyes and purred. Stoick exhaled, awe creeping into his eyes.

Then his gaze shifted to his son, and he moved his hand to set it on Hiccup's shoulder. "Son," he said again, softly. His eyes traveled over the man before him: far too thin, true, but tall and with an air of strength about him nonetheless, with clear eyes and a mysterious yet useful-looking suit, and frightening, awe-inspiring, complete, unmistakable control over the entire flock of beasts that had once been Berk's greatest enemies.

No wonder Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III had been no good as a dragon-slayer. He was a _king_ , a peace-bringer, who effortlessly dispensed bounty to his people and confidently enlarged his territory. Even the villagers who had once wanted nothing to do with the boy now looked at him with respect, and came to him for guidance and leadership when they couldn't trust their chief. For a moment, Stoick felt a little intimidated by his own son - then he remembered that he had fathered this young king, and he felt like he would burst with pride. He smiled broadly. "Well done."

Hiccup unexpectedly felt tears prick his eyes, but he managed to smile. "...Want me to introduce you to your dragon?"

" _My_ dragon?!"

Astrid stomped away, unable to bear being deserted.

About twenty minutes later, after Hiccup had left his father in Skullcrusher's care, he went in search of the last holdout. He found her standing sentry by her house, still bristling with anger but also looking near tears. Stormfly was crouched a safe distance away, watching her human longingly.

As he approached, Stormfly slunk back to his side and Astrid's head whipped toward him. "They say we're _engaged_ ," she spat. "How much money did you bribe my family with to get me to agree to _that_?"

Hiccup took a while to respond, trembling with hurt and not daring to speak until he knew he'd be able to without crying. "Believe it or not, Astrid, your opinion of me changed five years ago."

"How could it?! How _could_ it?!"

Having a dragon's warm scales to lean on was better than nothing, but he really, really wished it was _his_ dragon's warm scales that were comforting him. He cast another look around for Toothless, and spotted the Night Fury crouched on a nearby roof like an angry cat. Apparently _both_ of the people he loved most now hated him, and in Toothless's case, he had no idea why. He hadn't even thought that the other half of his heart _could_ hate him.

Looking at his dragon's furious eyes was too painful right now, so Hiccup turned his attention back to his girlfriend's furious eyes. "Well...it turns out I wasn't actually useless, or incompetent, or self-sabotaging. It was just that I was trying to be good at the wrong things, instead of the things I'm _actually_ good at."

"Like what?" she said acidly.

The hurt was starting to shift to anger. He tried to keep his voice calm. "Like flying." The scoffing sound she made in response was so hurtful that he snapped. " _Yes_ , flying!"

Knowing instinctively that it would be the end if he vented his anger at her, he unthinkingly whirled toward the _one_ person in the world who was always supposed to have his back, who had never let him down. "Enough, Toothless!" He snapped his fingers sharply and then jabbed them toward the ground before him. "Get over yourself and get _down_ here."

The Night Fury was outraged by the proprietary summons. He rose, snarling, to his full height with his wings spread wide, and his mouth glowed white-purple with fire.

Hiccup didn't even have time to register what he was seeing before his vision was obscured by a wall of blue scales. Stormfly reared before him, screaming, her wings spread in a protective gesture; the next instant, countless other dragons converged with a single purpose: to defend their queen from the imminent threat to his life. In the absence of his usual protector, any of them were more than willing to fill the void.

Overwhelmed by the rage of the entire flock directed toward him, Toothless shrank back for an instant, shocked and intimidated and completely bewildered, then fled.

Hiccup was too stunned to notice the anxious snouts that had turned to sniff and poke at him. He pushed through the crowd of dragons, trying to keep his eyes on the part of the forest where he'd seen the tip of his partner's tail vanish. _'He...if he...forgot the past five years just like Dad and Astrid did, then...!'_ The possibility hadn't even occurred to Hiccup until now because all the other dragons had been fine, but now it was glaringly obvious. Poor Toothless must have been so _confused_ , and then Hiccup had spoken to him in anger and made what must have looked like a threatening gesture... " _Toothless_."

Hiccup rushed into the woods after his dragon.


End file.
